Peter Ballo and his caddy Ross Kronberg try to read the green on the 13th hole during the 111th Met Amateur Golf Championship held at the Stanwich Club, Greenwich, CT on Thursday August 1st, 2013. Ballo and Kronberg are teammates on the Sacred Heart University men's golf team.

In this part of the country, Peter Ballo has a solid resume on the golf course. But when the 22-year-old Stamford native tees off Thursday at Briggs Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, he'll be just another name in the field.

"No one is going to know me," the former two-sport star at Trinity Catholic -- he also played hockey -- said on the way to the airport Tuesday afternoon. "It's just three days of golf. Those three days, anyone can do anything."

Ballo, a red-shirt junior at Sacred Heart, qualified for the regional round of the NCAA Championships by winning the Northeast Conference Championship in a playoff last weekend at the LPGA International Champions Course in Daytona Beach, Fla. Ballo birdied the second playoff hole to beat Bryant's Ryan Tombs and become the second Pioneer (Leo Garcia, 2012) to advance to the NCAAs in three years.

Ballo will be one of 10 individuals competing at Briggs Ranch for one spot in the finals (May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan). He heads to Texas on a hot streak having won three straight tournaments, including the Rhody Invitational and the New England Championships.

It did not start out so well for Ballo, who finished the fall season strong but was unable to carry it over through a long New England winter. It hardly matters now, though, with the long-driving Ballo finding his groove when it matters most.

"I had something to prove this year," said Ballo, who grew up surrounded by great golfers, including in his own home, and has competed for years on the amateur scene in Connecticut and in the metropolitan area.

Mike Ballo Sr. is the retired head pro at Woodway Country Club in Darien while Page Ballo, Peter's mom, was an assistant golf pro at the Scarsdale Golf Club for about 25 years ago. And older brother Mike Jr. starred at Trinity Catholic along with St. John's and is now on the Web.com Tour.

"I'm grateful to have grown up with a lot of strong area golfers and have played against a lot of good golfers," said Peter Ballo, who was the 2009 state high school champion while also leading Trinity to the team title.

But after spending two years at St. John's, Ballo decided to take a break from school and resurfaced a year later at Sacred Heart.

Away from school, Ballo spent more time initially pursuing his other love -- hockey -- which he played, practiced and coached for countless hours, especially during a self-imposed month-long sabbatical from golf.

"I needed a change, things were not going as I'd like them to," he said about leaving St. John's. "I took a month off ¦ and put my clubs away. I just needed a breather. I just played a lot of hockey."

A few bumps in the road hardly seem to matter now for Ballo, who will practice at Briggs Ranch on Wednesday before teeing off in the first of three rounds Thursday.

"We think he has a good opportunity," McGreevy said. "Three days of golf and anything can happen."

If anything, the Texas trip will be a good tee-off for a busy summer Ballo has planned. He anticipates playing a full schedule, which includes trying to qualify for the U.S. Amateur, before stopping to assess his future in the game this fall.

"It's possible (I might chase a pro career), but I'm not going to rush myself into a decision," he said. "In the fall, I'll see where I am with my game."